Barack Obama Quotes

Everybody has equal opportunity, and I think that is true for everything.

I want my kids to grow up in a world where everybody gets a fair shot.

You cannot say you've achieved equality until EVERYONE is equal and has equal opportunities!

It's not a meritocracy until everyone starts with the same opportunities, is it?

Now we Democrats believe that America is still the country of fair play, that we can come out of a small town or a poor neighborhood and have the same chance as anyone else, and it doesn't matter whether we are black or Hispanic, or disabled or women.

Sama means 'equal' in Sanskrit; I chose 'Samasource' because I thought it really reflected a value that I had and that I wanted the company to have, which is that everyone has equal capabilities and deserves an equal chance.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions — it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

In a country where there is no privileged class, genius and industry may attain the highest honors.

We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

At its core, a fair and just society is one where opportunity is open to all - not just those at the top.

I feel passionately that the opportunities I have had should be available to everyone.

We must recover the element of quality in our traditional pursuit of equality. We must not, in opening our schools to everyone, confuse the idea that all should have equal chance with the notion that all have equal endowments.

The erosion of equal opportunity is among the greatest threats to our exceptionalism as a nation. But it also provides us with an exciting and historic opportunity: to help more people than ever achieve the American Dream.

Whatever advantages may have arisen, in the past, out of the existence of a specially favored and highly privileged aristocracy, it is clear to me that today no argument can stand that supports unequal opportunity or any intrinsic disqualification for sharing in the whole of life.

We know that equality of individual ability has never existed and never will, but we do insist that equality of opportunity still must be sought.

The promise of equality is not the same as true equality.

America can't work for only some people and become a dream for all people. It has to work for everyone. And even though everyone might not end up at the same place, if everyone starts with the same beginning, then that's the dream fulfilled. We all don't have the same abilities, but we should have the same opportunities.

Because this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

Fairness is not the end result, it's the opportunity. And everybody in America today has the opportunity to get ahead.

All men will commence in their present rank and promotion will be open to all men alike, without any distinctions or qualifications, political or otherwise.

Everyone is born equally capable but lacks equal opportunity.

Now, as a nation, we don't promise equal outcomes, but we were founded on the idea everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you can make it. That's an essential promise of America. Where you start should not determine where you end up.

The promise of the American Dream requires that we are all provided an equal opportunity to participate in and contribute to our nation.

If you don't like affirmative action, what is your plan to guarantee a level playing field of opportunity?